Integrally Stiffened Carbon-Foam Core Hot Structure

"Allcomp proposes to design and develop innovative insulative carbon-foam cores for the hot structure of the next generation missiles and re-entry vehicles. Typical heatshield and re-entry structures encounter high heat flux and dynamic loads in theoperational environment. Conventional rib stiffened structure is structurally sound but thermally inadequate. The thick C-C rib provides a direct thermal path from outer skin to metallic under-structure and thus overheats the metal frame beyond its allowed servicelimit.Load-bearing insulative material offers a common solution for all hot structures. Combining the advances in carbon foam technology and composite processing, Allcomp proposes to develop a low cost methodology to produce stiffened structure using modularunits of carbon foam cores and C-C structural cells. In the proposed design, high strength, insulative carbon-foam briquetts(modules) will be encased in carbon fabric, and integrally bonded to produce a grid stiffened pattern. The grid dimensions, andthickness will be sized to sustain the operational mechanical and thermal design requirements. The continuous carbon-fabric bonding each of the adjacent foam modules provides the web of the grid-stiffened hot structure. Use of thin webs in the modulargrids will minimize heat transfer via the grid-webs. Furthermore, the grid-stiffened panels can be sized and stacked to provide desired core thickness, thus designed to s